Mister Billions: A Small Town Enemies-to-Lovers Fake Marriage Billionaire Romance

by Miller, Cassie-Ann L.

  I drop my head and shake it. "It's a fight we can't win. We don't come from the same world."

  Diana sighs. "I know you look at Kingston Realties today and all you see is its success but when Lucas met me, my father's company was in the ditch. He was a gorgeous, successful, fabulously wealthy man and I was struggling to run a crumbling business while my father drowned in depression and booze. I thought Lucas was way out of my league. We didn't come from the same world, either. But our love was so strong, there was no walking away from it." She smiles. "So you know what we did?

  I stare at her hopefully, hanging on to her every word. "What did you do?"

  She leans in like she's telling me a secret. "We built our own world. And we built it on a foundation of honesty. And we populated it with four beautiful babies. And we watered the gardens with love. And thirty-six years later, we have a fucking empire, Lexi...So, it doesn't matter what world you come from. It matters what world you'll build together."

  At this point, I'm a sobbing mess. The woman's words strike so deep. "I was terrible to him," I mumble through the wad of Kleenex covering my mouth. "Do you think he'll forgive me?"

  "Honestly, I don't know, dear," the woman says. "My Cannon is a stubborn man. But I do know that if I were you, I'd take the risk anyway. 'Cause that's the only way to find out."

  She comes around the counter and gives me a tight hug. I whimper against her shoulder then I watch after her as she walks out the door.

  With deep, long breaths, I pull myself together. I brush my hair and wipe my tear-streaked face. "No more excuses, Lexi," I tell my reflection in the mirror. "It's time to go get your man."

  Diana's words play again and again in my head as I make my way to Cannon's house.

  It doesn't matter what world you come from. It matters what world you'll build together.

  Cannon and I could build something beautiful together. How did I not see that before?

  My calls go straight to voicemail over and over again. No answer. But when I get to his house, my passcode still works so I let myself in. I search every room. But he's not here.

  I need to talk to him—tonight—so I wait. I spend the whole night waiting.

  And in the morning, my raw heart seizes when I wake up all alone in his bed.

  54

  Lexi

  Looks like I've officially begun hallucinating.

  I swear, I heard him whisper my name in the middle of the night. I thought I felt his body next to me when I rolled over in his bed this morning.

  And when I push open the door to Renewed Gowns at seven-thirty, I catch the scent of his musky cologne.

  I freeze in the middle of the shop and close my eyes. I suck the scent deep into my lungs, taking the time to absorb it, to bathe in it. Tears leak from the corners of my eyes.

  Stop deluding yourself, girl. He's gone. This really is over.

  I pad over to the front desk to grab a tissue. That's when I see it. The stack of papers sitting right next to the cash register.

  Dissolution papers. A simple note attached to it with a silver paper clip.

  My fingers brush across the thick, ivory-toned stationery with Cannon's letterhead embossed at the top.

  Got called back to New York for business. Have these papers signed and couriered to my lawyer's office.

  - C

  Cold. Formal. Detached.

  Dissolution papers.

  My husband is dissolving our marriage.

  He's done fighting to save our relationship.

  My heart collapses into the pool of disappointment in my gut.

  I don't have the right to complain. Or to cry. I'm the one who pushed him away. He tried to work things out and I'm the one who said 'no'. I don't get to play the victim card now.

  So I suck it up. I try to go about with my day. I try to serve customers and order inventory and do it all with a smile even as my heart rips at the stitches inside my chest.

  By lunchtime, the lie presses heavily against my ribs. I need a few minutes alone to get myself together. I usher my final smiling customer to the door. I click the lock shut and flip the sign to the 'CLOSED' side. I pull off my annoying earrings and kick my shoes off my achy feet.

  I'm trying to be strong here. I'm trying to act like none of this ever meant anything. It's time for me to just move on with my life. Because this is what we agreed to from the get-go. He fulfilled all of his promises and I fulfilled mine.

  I helped him convince his father to hand over the family business. He gave my friends their shops back. He hired the best construction company around to renovate the buildings. We each got what we bargained for.

  I stare down at his note again.

  Got called back to New York for business. Have these papers signed and couriered to my lawyer's office.

  - C

  It feels unfair. Everything that we went through together, it all boils down to this? A two line note?

  Ugh, fuck this!

  I crumple up the sheet of paper because it's just too painful to deal with. But as I'm about to toss it into the trash beneath my counter, I notice a big wad of the identical ivory paper stock with Cannon's letterhead lying at the bottom of my waste basket.

  Heart in my throat, I reach into the garbage can. I un-ball the paper and smooth it across my cashier desk with my shaky, sweaty palms. My eyes scan my husband's scribbly handwriting and the angry words he bled across the page.

  You know, you are so fucking stubborn, Alexia. And you have a way of pissing me off like no one I've ever met before. From the first second I saw you, I knew you'd be a headache.

  ...And I think I fell in love with you right then and there. At the coffee shop. While you were sweaty and disheveled and covered in coffee splatter with a screwdriver in your hand. The sexiest, friskiest, prettiest, kindest woman I've ever seen, rolling your sleeves back to help out a friend.

  I'm in love with you, dammit. And the last thing I want to do is divorce you. I want to keep you and protect you and bicker with you and grow with you and love you for the rest of my life.

  You've opened me in so many ways. You believe in me when I don't deserve it. You're tender with me even when I don't realize I need it. When my ego gets too big, you serve me the most delicious humble pie.

  You're genuine, you're hardworking, you're sexy, you're loyal, you're down-to-earth, you have the biggest heart...Do you need me to go on? Because I will. I can list the things I love about you all day long.

  Maybe I did a shit job of making you know how much you mean to me. I'd do anything for another chance.

  You can go on deluding yourself, saying our relationship was never real. But I'll tell you this, Stormy; being with you changed me. You made me a better man. And there's nothing realer than that.

  - C

  The words seep into my soul. I can't lie to myself anymore.

  Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit.

  He loves me.

  And I love him.

  And he's in New. York. City.

  And I'm going to get his ass back.

  I hurriedly get my earrings on and grab my purse from under my desk. "I don't know how to get around Manhattan..." I’m mumbling to myself. "I am so gonna get my ass lost on the subway or get run over by a yellow cab…” Salty tears leak into my mouth as I cram my laptop and my keys and my other shit into my purse. "I don't even know his address…” I drop to my knees, scrambling for my shoes beneath the counter. “I don’t even have a plan…”

  But I'm willing to take the chance because I have to go get my man back.

  The loud screech of tires outside draws my attention back to the shop's front glass. I look up and see my father's truck pull up at the curb, obstructing the fire hydrant and taking up half the block.

  Worst timing ever.

  "Oh my god, Dad." He can't just park that thing on the curb. My neighbors are gonna give me so much shit for this.

  I vault to my feet so fast and rush to the door. I pound on the window and the glass slowly come
s down. But when I lean into the vehicle, it's not my father who looks back at me.

  Cannon's hopeful caramel eyes sweep my face. He gives me a charming half-smile that turns my knees to licorice. "Hey Stormy. Wanna go for a spin?"

  55

  Cannon

  Lexi’s beautiful eyes are wide as I jump out from behind the wheel of the old truck.

  Her jaw hangs loose. "Cannon, w-what is going on? What are you doing driving my dad's truck?"

  I round the hood of the vehicle and join her on the sidewalk. I give her my brashest grin although I'm a freaking hot mess on the inside.

  "This is my loaner car while your dad's fixing up my sportscar. It got a little ding on the back fender a few days ago. You may have heard."

  She cocks a brow. "You left my dad with your Tesla?"

  "I thought you'd gone back to New York..."

  A crowd of nosy townies is already starting to gather around us.

  I give zero fucks. I will make a scene out here that would put all telenovelas to shame. I don't care. I just want my wife back.

  "I was on my way...And as I was passing by Cowersville, I made a little detour."

  Going to Lexi's hometown hadn't been part of the plan. I'd made up my mind that I was done fighting for her. But my heart didn't care what decision my mind had made. My heart only cared that I pull out all the stops and make things right once and for all.

  So, I went back to that trailer park and took Alexia's father up on his offer to fix my car.

  Stormy locks her fingers around my wrist and drags me inside her boutique. "You went to see my parents?!"

  Casually, I hitch a shoulder. "We broke bread."

  “Oh my god…” She looks faint. She's gonna have to get over it.

  Yes, I went back to the trailer park and I sat down with my father-in-law. I looked him in the eye and admitted to being an idiot who had screwed up with his daughter. I owned up to my asshole nature, apologized to him like a man, made an earnest commitment to change.

  ...And then I begged him to tell me how to win back my wife's affection.

  He advised me to keep it simple, to tell it to her straight.

  We stand face to face in the middle of the shop. "Look, Alexia—this is my last ditch move. I've got no other tricks up my sleeve. So, I'll just tell you flat out. I'm in love with you. I get that things weren't supposed to turn out this way. I get that we were supposed to split up after we both got what we wanted out of our arrangement." I cup her cheek. "But baby, halfway through our arrangement, what I wanted changed. What I want is you. I don't care about the properties Kingston Realties owns. I don't care what Carl and Margot do with DataCo. I don't care about the dent in my car. I care about you. Only you."

  I brace my hands on her hips and lift her onto the platform in the showroom. "You say I'm the one with all the power? That's where you're wrong. I put you on a fucking pedestal, Alexia. Literally. So fuck my fortune, fuck all my worldly possessions. Everything I need in this world is standing on this two-foot platform in front of me right now."

  That's when the tears start streaming down her face.

  “I know I'm asking a lot. I'm asking more than I deserve. But don't tell me you can't figure out how to forgive me. Don't say that to me. Please."

  “Cannon, I…”

  “I know you're scared. I'm scared, too. But pick me over your fear, baby. Please, pick me. Because I'm scared too, but I pick you anyway."

  Alexia leans down and grabs my face in her warm hands. She kisses me with those soft, cherry-red lips and her tears leak onto my cheeks and her grapefruit-scented hair tickles my neck and everything about this feels right. "I'm sorry I pushed you away, King. I act all confident, like I know what the hell I'm doing but I don't. And I just couldn't bring myself to believe that you'd actually choose me."

  I hiss into her hair. "You're talking crazy, Stormy. Of course I'd choose you. You're gorgeous. You're smart. You're ambitious. You speak your truth and you defend people who can't defend themselves. You're the kind of woman to build an empire with."

  "Why me, King? How do you know you love me? How do you know I'm worth it? I'm damaged goods, yo..."

  That makes me smile. "When I'm away from you, I'm excited to see you. And I'm also anxious that you'll pull the hard-to-get card on me again and then I'll have to chase you around the state of Illinois and seduce you all over again. Just to get you to surrender and give me a little bit of your affection." She's soft and warm in my arms. The vibrations of her laughter resonate all throughout my body. "And it's worth it, Alexia. The chase is always worth it. Because when I'm with you, I feel fulfilled, I feel smitten, I feel goddamned happy. That's how I know I love you."

  When she pulls back, she's smiling. "A wise woman once said that we don't have to come from the same world. We can build a whole new world together...Do you want to do that with me, King? Can we build something new together? Something just for you and me?"

  Reaching into my pocket, I pull out her wedding ring. Her eyes follow the movement. It's like dangling a bone in front of a puppy.

  A corny-ass line spills from my mouth. "A man can amass a fortune, rule a country, command an army. But he only knows true success when he has the right woman by his side to share it all with."

  She grins. "Wait—that's a line from your grandfather's book..."

  I nod. "It is." I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her palm. "You're that woman for me, Alexia."

  "Really?"

  I lick my lips and nod. "Really."

  A grin full of mischief takes over her face. “Cool. So, gimme my ring back." Sassy thing. I slide the ring back into its rightful place, on her hand. There's no turning back now. I'll make sure that ring stays there for the rest of her life. Her eyes twinkle. “Now, gimme your heart.”

  I lay a kiss on the back of her hand then settle her palm over the centre of my chest. “I did that a long time ago, Stormy. It’s yours forever.”

  I lift her off the platform and lock her long legs around my back. She holds my face in her hands. She kisses my chin, my lips, the bridge of my nose. “I’m yours now, King. And you’re mine."

  "I'm yours, baby. Forever.” I smirk. “I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

  She kicks her head back and laughs. I kiss my way up her throat until our lips meet and when they do, I pour every ounce of me into the kiss.

  There are people at the window looking in. I don't care.

  She looks at me, eyes glittering with wonder. "I love you so much, Cannon Kingston."

  "I love you, Alexia Kingston." I walk her down the hallway, kick open a door and lay her on the couch in her office. I plan to taste every inch of her skin. "Now, let's get to work on our happy ever after."

  56

  Cannon

  My beautiful wife sits cross-legged on the conference room table, feeding documents into the paper shredder. "Maybe we can go to Tortola?" She smirks at the image of the tropical beach in her hands. “I heard you own a fishing boat out there.”

  I throw her a smirk of my own from where I'm plucking pins out of the corkboard on the wall. “Yeah, the fishing boat was a very generous gift from an old acquaintance.” My fingertips tingle at the memory of stripping the boat away from Carl. I wonder if he misses his fishing privileges...

  She falls back onto the table and tosses a handful of popcorn into her mouth. She laughs evilly. "We're so bad..."

  Now that Alexia and I have cut the shit and committed ourselves to each other, honeymooning is finally on the table. We just have to pick the perfect spot.

  "So you really are serious about giving up on revenge on your business partner?" She turns to look at me. Her brows furrow. "'Cause to be quite fucking honest, I am personally offended by the idea of that asshole getting away with what he did to my man."

  She rolls her eyes when I make a big show of feeding our prenup and NDA through the paper shredder. Frank will whip up some paperwork to make it official but the message is clear—Alexi
a’s stuck with me forever. We don’t need any legal mumbo jumbo standing between us.

  I nudge her sweet ass to scoot across the table and make room for me. I lie beside her and throw an arm around her belly. "Baby, revenge means nothing to me if I can have you—if I can have love—instead."

  She feeds me a few kernels then she kisses me on the mouth. Her voice is low and gravelly. "It is so sexy when you talk like that."

  Lexi's horny eyes are back.

  I'm never one to pass up an opportunity so I haul her on top of me. Then, we're kissing and touching, going at each other like junkies. Minutes later, she's smiling as she brings my engorged cock into her mouth.

  I grind my teeth, fighting a losing battle against my self-control. "Hell, you're so fucking good at that..."

  Her lips quirk around the crown. "I've had lots of practice over the past few months."

  Fingers clasped around the base of my cock, she takes me deep in her throat. Again and again and again. It's embarrassing how hard I come, with my fingers tangled in her hair, my nails biting into her scalp. She swallows every drop and I haul her to her feet. "Come on, Stormy. We've got to go finish this party at home."

  I plan to eat her until she's worn-out and dehydrated and struggling to remember her own name. Then, I'll fuck her mercilessly just to see her 'O' face again.

  She giggles as she's straightening her clothes and I'm buckling up my belt. She wanders around the room, looking for her shoes. From the corner of my eye, I see her lean close to the remaining documents on the corkboard.

  Suddenly, her fingers cover her lips and she whispers, “Are you fucking serious?”

  Eyes on the papers, I come up over her shoulder as I tuck in my shirt. "What?"

  She points at a corporate fact sheet on the board. "Your ex-business partner owns Vibes of Joy?"

  My brow arches in question. "Vibes of Joy?"

  "The company that sold Iris those crappy sex toys and vanished into thin air when it came time for the refund."